Today marks the release of Samia’s debut album, The Baby. She celebrated its impending release earlier this week with the final teaser from the record, “Tiptych.” This is a song that Samia herself calls “a pretty blatant cry for help and an opportunity to confess my fear of being misunderstood.” So it’s no wonder that the video for The Baby-standout is about a relationship with a ventriloquist dummy. Communication seems nearly impossible in the codependent relationship at the core of the video, directed by Samia’s longtime friend Fred Hechinger. The Samia of “Triptych” embraces and teases her helpless partner at whim. Her conflicting emotions match the dichotomy of the song, a peaceful, indie rock track belied by taunting, aggressive sentiments. Somehow even though we’ve yet to release her debut, it’s accurate to say this is classic Samia.

“I wrote ‘Triptych’ sobbing in a green room in Denver,” she shares. “I’d just read the story of Francis Bacon and his lover/muse, George Dyer, whose chaotic lifestyle served as Bacon’s artistic inspiration. George Dyer overdosed in the bathroom of a hotel room paid for by Bacon, who famously painted a triptych of his lover’s final moments. I had just been through a pretty tough breakup and felt I might be purposefully getting myself into dicey situations to justify my big feelings and write about them.”

It’s a fitting song to celebrate the release of, The Baby, available here. The album is a big, soaring, ambitious collection of bouncey indie folk, artful pop and bouyant rock. Contemporary ideals about romantice (“Is There Something in the Movies?”) or supposed parallels between fitness and happiness (“Fit N Full”), tying each to her own personal experiences. The insightful wordplay showcases the voice of an emerging lyricist with their pulse on the modern condition. 

While these songs explore Samia’s fear of being alone, they were lovingly brought to life with the help of her community. Many of her tourmates eventually became collaborators as she prioritized working with old friends and kindred spirits. Early demos of The Baby were workshopped with members of the band Active Bird Community, and the album was produced by Jake Luppen, Nathan Stocker & Caleb Hinz, the former two best known as members of indie-pop rebels Hippo Campus. Along with studio whiz Lars Stalfors (Foster the People, Soccer Mommy), Samia assembled a seemingly disparate crew, stretching from Los Angeles to Minnesota to New York, connected only by her trust and vision. 

Today you can hear two new songs from Samia’s forthcoming debut, The Baby. The double single pairs the wistful yet buoyant “Big Wheel” against the stark, lowlit heartbeat of “Stellate.” While it showcases two distinct sounds from the album, the songs are bridged together by the twin themes of internal and external conflict. 

“’Big Wheel’ is about avoiding conflict at any cost,” Samia shares. “I wrote it after a few hours of laying in bed imagining hypothetical conversations with people that I was too scared to have in real life. It’s a passive confession of harbored resentments buried in a laundry list of gratitude.“

On “Stellate”, she further struggles with confrontation and how such fears lead to a power imbalance between herself and her partner. “‘Stellate’ and ‘Big Wheel’ are both love letters to people/parts of my life I had trouble confronting conversationally,” she shares. “‘Stellate’ is a note to myself trying to make sense of old traumas and ‘Big Wheel’ is a plea to the people around me, but releasing them together feels like closing a chapter.”

The accompanying video for “Big Wheel,” directed by her drummer Noah Rauchwerk, presents another imbalance, this time between the IRL & URL world, as 3D avatars of Samia begin to spill out into an unsuspecting reality. It wasn’t until the video was underway that Rauchwerk stumbled over a second layer of meaning specific to the moment: “The combination of the nostalgic and joyous home videos with the unsettling 3D models says something to me about how Covid has forced us into our phones and the digital world even more,” says the director. “There’s this huge collective feeling from the loss of human interaction and most of the things that previously brought us so much joy and purpose. Watching shows online and listening to records is great, but nothing compares to sweating at a show with all your friends and screaming the words, or playing on tour with the people you love. Those experiences bring an overwhelming feeling of presence and life that we have all been missing.”

The Baby is coming August 28th, and is available for pre-order in our shop.

It’s been a long time coming. But today Samia finally announces her debut album, The Baby. It’s due August 28th. It includes the previous-released “Is There Something in The Movies,” along with the single “Fit N Full,” which just arrived this morning. Deceptively bright, “Fit N Full” explores the long-purported relationship between a person’s physical fitness and their happiness. The narrator, “hollow and amazing,” sings of diets and lifestyles with no worries about their potential side effects; instead, she resigns herself to the listener’s desires: “If you want/ I can take it off.” The video, directed by Martin MacPherson, plays further into this empty exhibition, a camcorder following Samia as she stretches on the beach or exercises next to a pool. Watch below. 

Starting today, you can pre-order the LP on three different limited edition colors. There’s only a few hundred of each. Get the album on BONE VINYL, available alongside an exclusive tee-shirt inspired by the “Fit N Full” music video over on Samia’s webstore. Get the album on BABY PINK VINYL over in the Vinyl Me, Please shop (it’ll be up in about an hour, in case the link isn’t working yet!). Get the album on LIGHT BLUE vinyl at your local record store — while supplies last, participating shops will also pair a limited edition The Baby tote with your copy of the album. Perfect for curbside pickup. Search for your local record store here, and ask them to make sure that they’re carrying the record & tote for you. And, finally, in a nod to her hometown record store –Rough Trade NYC– you can get SIGNED COPIES of the Light Blue LP along with The Baby tote via the Rough Trade online store right here.

But enough about pre-orders. Let’s talk about the music?

While these songs explore Samia’s fear of being alone, they were lovingly brought to life with the help of her community. Many of her tourmates eventually became collaborators as she prioritized working with old friends and kindred spirits. Early demos of The Baby were workshopped with members of the band Active Bird Community, and the album was produced by Jake Luppen, Nathan Stocker & Caleb Hinz, AKA our very own Baby Boys. Along with studio whiz Lars Stalfors (whose work you’ve heard on records from Foster the People & Soccer Mommy), Samia assembled a seemingly disparate crew, stretching from Los Angeles to Minnesota to New York, connected only by her trust and vision. And boy did it pay off. 

We couldn’t be more proud that this record has our logo on it. And we absolutely can’t wait for you to hear it.

More soon.

It’s been seven months since we released a new Samia song. That’s far too long. Especially in times like these.

So we’re thrilled to announce that today brings a brand new single: “Is There Something in the Movies?”

If you’ve caught her on the road last year (remember live shows?), you might recognize this one. The recorded version is achingly spare and features Samia at her lyrical best, gently swaying back and forth between the personal and the universal with a vocal take that cuts straight to the bone. The song is also accompanied by a music video – directed by Samia herself, with help from Matt Hixon – starring her longtime friends Maya Hawke and Charlie Plummer as, surprise(!), a pair of actors.

Throughout the video, Samia haunts the set of their unspecified film, trying and failing to force herself into the moments between them. It’s a poignant depiction of a very specific sort of loss and alienation.

“It’s a song about heartbreak and disenchantment with the entertainment industry,” says Samia. “I felt betrayed by someone honoring that fantasy over my love. Glorifying the idea of legacy or life as a means to an end makes me really sad, especially when it comes to people dying young. There’s a line about sleeping with a stuffed pig that Brittany Murphy gave me the day I was born; her death has always felt painfully unnecessary to me and has fueled my resentment towards that whole thing. In the video, Maya and Charlie play ‘Movies’ and I’m just trying to make sense of them.”

Like we said, personal, universal – everything about this one’s special. More soon from Samia.

Samia returns today with a patient and plaintive cover of Liz Phair’s Exile In Guyville standout “Never Said.” When we first heard some of Samia’s early singles, the Phair influence wasn’t lost on us. Apparently we weren’t alone:

“Had the distinct privilege of meeting John Mellencamp when I was 14 and played him a few of my songs. He goes, ‘Liz Phair. You’re gonna be like Liz Phair,’” says Samia. “Listened to her music pretty exclusively for a few years after that. Haven’t had such a visceral and lasting reaction to anyone’s music since. The original version of this song is obviously untouchable so I wanted to try something completely different. You can probably hear her influence in my voice and songwriting so it would’ve been impossible to record an entirely new version of it, but we slowed that fucker down! Was a real honor to sing this song.” Samia is joined on the recording by friend and fellow NYC songwriter Raffaella on vocals, along with Quinn McGovern who produced the track, and her early 2019 collaboration with Active Bird Community

But that’s not it. Samia also created a lo-fi fever dream of a music video for the song, premiered today via FLOOD and available for your viewing pleasure above. The clip was put together with the help of her friends, actors Lucas Hedges and Fred Hechinger. According to Samia: “I was hanging out with my friends Fred and Lucas last month and we were filming ourselves doing ridiculous characters…I played them the ‘Never Said’ cover and this sort of just happened. We sent it over to Nick [D’Agostino] who sprinkled magic on it and voila!”

The release of “Never Said” comes a few short days after Samia opened for Soccer Mommy at Lincoln Calling Festival, and just before she headlines Samia + Friends at Brooklyn’s Our Wicked Lady on September 28. The Doc Martens mini-festival was curated by Samia herself and features performances from Active Bird Community, Daisy the Great, Nick Cianci, Pearla, Tarune, and a DJ set courtesy of Blu DeTiger. She’ll be keeping busy throughout the rest of the year as well, with an October run of dates with Remo Drive, followed by a November jaunt with Cold War Kids. Tickets on her artist page now.

Samia has been busy. After releasing her double A-side single, “Lasting Friend” / “Paris,” back in January, she jumped on the road with Donna Missal in February, turned heads at SXSW in March, then joined her label mates Hippo Campus on another leg of their Bambi tour in April & May. Today she’s back with “Ode to Artifice,” a new single and music video (featuring a cameo from Mary Louise Parker) directed by Nick D’Agostino. The video just debuted over on Consequence of Sound, as part of their recurring Origins feature.

“The New York singer offers more than poignant confessional lyrics,” says CoS’s Ming Lee Newcombe. “She also crafts striking compositions, which range from dramatic, wailing folk ballads backed by simple piano or acoustic guitar accompaniments to gritty and grungy rock anthems. Always at the forefront is her crystalline voice, carrying each number with its deft transitions between ranges and its emotional power.” 

Of the video, Samia says, “‘Ode to Artifice’ is a desperate plea; my authentic self is lusting after my stage/party persona and begging her to merge. Nick D’agostino and I decided to tell the story of a girl who spends weeks obsessing over the way she’ll present herself at prom, only to discover that she is grossly underdressed compared to the more colorful and popular version of herself who is thriving at the event.”

The video and single come only a few short weeks before a pair of headline shows, one at Rough Trade in Brooklyn, NY and another at Bootleg Theatre in Los Angeles. Tickets over on her Artist page. As anyone who caught her with Donna or Hippo can attest, you don’t want to miss these shows.

Today, Gorilla Vs. Bear unveils the new music video for “Paris,” from Samia’s recently released double A-side single. “NYC’s Samia follows up her boisterously defiant “Lasting Friend” vid by gently tugging at our heartstrings with something a little more low-key, in the nostalgia-inducing new visuals for her tender breakup song ‘Paris,'” says GvsB. “The video is made up of sweet archival family footage of lil’ Samia, interspersed with more recent, glowingly hazy film shots, co-directed by Samia and Zak Adams.”

The clip comes on the eve of Samia kicking off a lengthy run of dates alongside Donna Missal. Find them all over in the tour section. The run will make a pit stop at SXSW down in Austin. Watch this space for more details soon.

Samia is back today with two new songs. “Lasting Friend” and “Paris” were released last night, and this morning we were gifted a music video for “Lasting Friend.” As if this wasn’t already an embarrassment of Samia riches, we’ve also announced two wonderfully lengthy tours she’ll be joining oh so soon. In February she heads out with Donna Missal (who we love), and in April she’ll be riding shotgun with our very own Hippo Campus. Needless to say, we’re excited. And you should be too.

Our friends over at Stereogum premiered the music video for “Lasting Friend” this morning. It was directed by Ruby Rose Makkena. “It’s a punchy, fuzzed-out tune doused with unapologetic honesty,” says Stereogum. “She repeats the opening line, “I’m not ashamed of my past” over and over, not totally convinced of its truth. Each word becomes a confessional as she confronts her relationships with the boys of her youth. And in the chorus she calls them out by name. “I have this party anecdote about how the boys in middle school used to line up in the gym and touch my boobs,” Samia said via email. “It’s as funny as it is difficult for me to grapple with, because it’s how I learned to measure my worth. I made a lot of friends that way and it’s hard to unlearn that routine; we were all trying to make sense of the roles we were assigned.”

Another jaw-droppingly gorgeous one from Samia. “Milk” was produced by Jesse Harris, and the accompanying video was shot by Tess Lafia. The song follows the more rambunctious “21″ with a return to the contemplative side. A gut-wrencher about eating disorders, losing loved ones, and finding strength and clarity in sadness. The single is out now on your favorite streaming services.

But in perhaps even more exciting news, later this year you’ll get the chance to see Samia in the flesh when she hits the road to support Active Bird Community along the east coast. Check out the dates in our tour section.